True Love's Kiss
by Vaneria Potter
Summary: Maleficent looks down at Aurora sleeping, and muses on the nature of true love. Maleficent/Aurora family love, hints of Maleficent/Diaval and past Maleficent/Stefan


_Disclaimer: I do not own Maleficent, or any of the associated characters. Nearly ten years of writing fanfiction, and I still have to state the obvious._

_Summary: Maleficent stands beside Aurora's bed, _

* * *

**TRUE LOVE**

At first, she was nothing to me.

Nothing more than Stefan's child by another woman, physical proof of his betrayal, and the instrument of my revenge.

The death of an innocent was too much for me to be easy causing, even in my rage and pain. But a sleep like death, where Stefan would be forced to watch his child lie still and unresponsive, knowing that his own actions had caused it and that my seeming 'mercy' was nothing but the same false hope he had once given me.

Slowly, she became the infant, the child, who looked at me without fear and smiled.

In the end, she became the daughter that I loved, though she looked nothing like Diaval or myself, and very little of even Stefan's likeness in her. Aurora was the child that I would never bear, but loved all the same.

* * *

I had not counted on my own curse coming to affect me.

"Beloved by all who meet her" turned out to include me, from the first time I sent Diaval to bring her nourishment, knowing that Knotgrass, Flitter and Thistlewit were nowhere near up to the task of raising a baby. It would have been easy to just sit back and let Aurora starve to death, but even then, my heart was moved.

Love was an uncomfortable emotion for me.

The last time I allowed myself to feel love, I was betrayed in the worst possible way. I allowed the curse to be broken by 'true love's kiss', mostly because I knew that it would hit Stefan where it hurt, that he would know that I meant for the curse to be unbroken, because he had shattered my belief in true love.

Aurora taught me that love was not a useless emotion, even if we showed it in different ways, be it my restrained affection and watching over her from a distance, or Aurora's more open demonstrations of laughter and hugs.

She warmed my heart in a way that I had not felt in far too long. Not the romantic love I had once felt for Stefan, or the companionship I felt with Diaval, but something pure and caring nonetheless.

I tried to revoke my curse, only for it to fail, and for my own words to echo back at me. "_No power on earth can break it..."_

Not even me.

* * *

Now, it is too late.

My thought to keep her in the Moors, where there were no spinning wheels, failed when those three idiots told her the truth, which I had hinted at and planned to break gently when Aurora's birthday had passed.

The tears and tone of betrayal as she asked me if it was true hit me with more pain that when her father stole my wings in exchange for a crown.

My last hope of using the boy that Aurora had shown a budding interest in, with the same light in her eyes as I had when Stefan first kissed me (and, though it would never admit it, the first time I changed Diaval into a man, without the clothes), has also failed, and there are no chances left.

Though, I do respect the boy for protesting that it wouldn't be right to kiss her without her consent when they barely knew each other, no matter how beautiful she was. If it hadn't been necessary to break the enchantment, I think that he wouldn't have done it.

If more people thought like Phillip, and less like Stefan, I think the world would be a much better place.

But now it will not, because there will be no Aurora to light it with her smile and naïve goodness.

Goodbye, Aurora.

I love you.

.

.

.

_._

* * *

_A/N: This has been bouncing around in my head since the first time I saw the movie, which is right up there with Wicked for my top "Most Epic Villain's Backstory" adaption I have ever seen._

_Anyway, my thoughts on what might have been going through Maleficent's head when she saw Aurora sleeping. Would love to know what you think, even if it's just squealing about what you thought of the movie._

_For those following **'A Friend In Need',** that has also been updated._

_Thanks,_

_Nat_


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